Little Big Man

We kept saying that one of these days, he was just going to let go and....well, GO.  Today was that day, a few days after he turned 16 months....we were having an unusually quiet morning at home with Daddy on a weekday, because Nathan was waiting for someone to come fix his laptop.  I was in the living room with Zoe and Nathan had just come down the stairs with Owen.  All of the sudden, I heard Nathan from the other end of the hallway saying "Sarah! Sarah!"...I looked and there was little Owen, grinning ear to ear, WALKING right to me.  We all sort of held our breath and when he made it to me, we all clapped and cheered and had a grand old time making him walk back and forth for the next 20 minutes or  so, so we could get a good video of it.   I alternated between laughing, cheering and crying the whole time (and throughout the rest of the day, honestly)....so happy because Nathan happened to be home to see it, because Zoe is such a sweet big sister that she was just as excited as we were and because you really just can't NOT get caught up in the magic of the moment when witnessing your kid accomplish such an amazing feat both physically and mentally....also, so sad because my little baby isn't such a baby anymore.  He's been my little monkey, always so content to be quietly riding on my hip everywhere we go.  We won't be having any more kids so this is a big moment for me...I've wanted to be a mother my whole entire life and while I love every stage these kids go through, I can't help but feel melancholy at times like these...these moments have a way of making perfectly clear how quickly time hurtles past and how much these little people change.  Really, though I cherish the melancholy feelings because it always forces me to try and soak up every moment...anyway, today the proud, happy feelings won out as they always do, and I spent the rest of the day marveling at my Big Boy walking and walking and walking....

Zoe summed up the vibe in our house this morning perfectly when she, pen in hand and with her new "Feelings Notebook" (a book that has so far only been used to try and express difficult/sad/angry feelings) in front of her asked, "Mommy, how do you spell "YAHOOWEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"?